4/5/15- A Brace Of 'Doubles'

With a particularly narrow window of reasonable weather, I felt it too good an opportunity to miss today and seized the chance to get out however, the bass seem to have been dispersed by the recent weather conditions and proved to be very hard work to find. I definitely spent more time searching, than actually fishing. But, the rewards were worth the effort.
The tide was still flooding, just, as we arrived at the first mark and literally within seconds of dropping my swat shad to the sea bed, this 7-08 snatched the lure- the only 'easy' fish of the day. This mark is showing some true potential on the flooding tide which goes against the grain compared to neighbouring marks when it comes to bass fishing however, that was unfortunately the only take although I suspect that the lack of tide may not have helped proceedings.
I had been concerned that clarity might be an issue with the recent 'rough' weather, but this proved not to be the case, although the water was hardly 'crystal clear'. A decision was made to change tactics and set up the float rods for a spot of live bait fishing.



As the tide slackened, it was the ideal time to catch some 'livies', and slow drifting the reef with tiny squid baits soon saw the bait tank well stocked with pouting.
Moving to an alternative mark and the extensive shoals that I've been seeing on my recent outings were conspicuous by their absence however, I was hoping that a few 'big girls' remained.
My crew mate Simon a.k.a 'Nightwatchmen' on the W.S.F forum is an accomplished shore bass angler, but had caught relatively little afloat.After much searching ,and following  a couple of three pounders, this rather battered old war horse of 11-04 snaffled his bait.
Actually the fish was in quite reasonable condition generally but may have had an encounter with a seal.............or perhaps a shark!!!



On the very next drift my own bait was rather savagely demolished by this one at 10-02....a much prettier fish it has to be said (apologies Simon) and the first time I've ever seen a brace of 'doubles' in 'Jupiter's Moon' in a day.
Brian had been fishing nearby with similar tactics and he'd also a 'double'-his first ever. Well done mate



Brimming with enthusiasm we elected to remain at sea over the low tide 'lock out' period for another four hours, and continue fishing in the rain, but the bass remained elusive with just a couple of smaller fish hitting our pout baits, and some welcome 'chunky' wrasse to 4lb sampling our lures.
So, not a particularly prolific day numbers wise but what it lacked in quantity, it made up for in quality.
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